[media-credit name=”Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post” align=”aligncenter” width=”495″][/media-credit]

Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx challenged his sister, DeOndra Dixon, to a dance-off at the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show.

Stars continue to shine on the Global Down Syndrome’s million-dollar baby, the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show. Quincy Jones and Jamie Foxx made their second appearance at the gala that had its start in a Broomfield airplane hangar and has since exploded into an event that commands international attention.

For those who ask “How did that happen?,” the answer is simple. Cherry Hills Village residents John Sie, founder of what is now Starz Entertainment, and his wife, Anna, have a granddaughter with Down syndrome, Sophia Whitten. From the moment she was born, they vowed to make sure that Sophia, and the estimated 6 million others who have Down syndrome, are treated with dignity and respect as they work, play and achieve without people telling them “You can’t do this” or “You shouldn’t do that.”

Sophia’s mother, Michelle Sie Whitten, shares her parents’ passion and is executive director of the nonprofit organization that John and Anna Sie started, Global Down Syndrome Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to “Significantly improv(e) the lives of people with Down syndrome through research, medical care, education and advocacy.” The money it raises — like the $1 million net from Saturday night’s Be Beautiful Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show — goes to the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome and its medical care arm, the Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndrome.
Located on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, the institute is the first organization to be founded with the goal of eradicating the medical and cognitive ill effects associated with Down syndrome. Its director, Dr. Ed McCabe, predicts that will happen soon; 2017 is the target year.

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Miss Colorado Diana Dreman and pro golfer David Duval.

2001 British Open champ David Duval was honorary chairman for a golf tournament benefiting the Hospice of St. John, and while net proceeds are still being tabulated, organizers say his participation guaranteed its success.

Duval and his wife, Susie, weren’t the only celebrities at the Friends FORE Hospice tourney. Miss Colorado Diana Dreman also was at Lakewood Country Club to sign autographs and pose for pictures with such duffers as Denver Broncos Ring of Famer Haven Moses; Michael Coughlin, owner of Lakewood’s popular 240 Union restaurant; Michael Wellensiek, chief operating officer of Horan & McConaty mortuary; Charlie Kercheval, president of 1st Bank of Cherry Creek; Michael Dunagan, president of 1st Bank of Parker; Michael Horstman, president and CEO of Agency of Credit Control; Paul Dwyer; and radio talk show hosts Mark McIntosh and Jimmy Doogan, hosts of the Mac and Doog Sports Talk on AM 1510 and FM 93.7. McIntosh and Doogan did a remote radio show during lunch.

This was the first time that Friends FORE Hospice was held at the Lakewood Country Club, and Steve Cooper, the president/CEO of Hospice of St. John, says it won’t be the last. “It’s one of the country’s most beautiful, urban courses,” Cooper says, “and our golfers loved playing there.”

While chairman Ken Reinig focused on making the tournament time-efficient, he did include a Duckie Derby where players could purchase a numbered rubber duck to toss off a bridge and into a stream that runs through the club property. The owner of the first duck to cross the finish line received a prize.

The Lakewood-based Hospice of St. John is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that was founded 34 years ago by the late Father Paul von Lobkowitz. Many of its services, such as bereavement counseling, are provided free-of-charge, something made possible by gifts from corporations, foundations, organizations, individuals and special events such as the golf tournament.

Laurin Gilmour and Casey Gunning offered an enthusiastic welcome to the 1,200 guests. (Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post)

My story in the print edition of today’s Denver Post has all the facts and figures surrounding the third Be Beautiful Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show: The amount of money raised ($1.45 million gross), how many people were there (1,200) and the celebrities in attendance (Quincy Jones, Jamie Foxx, Jeff Probst, Stepfanie Kramer, Timothy Shriver, Chauncey Billups, Ed McCaffrey, Billy Van Heusen, David Duval, Eric Hutchinson).

I was able to squeeze a lot of information into a limited amount of space, but not everything would fit. Thank goodness for blogs, because there’s plenty of room on the Internet. So, with no further ado, here are some fun things that otherwise would have wound up on the cutting room floor:

Quincy Jones is a music business legend, an award-winning (27 Grammys) composer, producer and arranger who has worked with everyone from Lesley Gore to Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, whose Jones-produced album, “Thriller,” sold 110 million copies. Jones was the force behind the legendary group recording of “We Are the World,” and was the first African American to be made music director for the Academy Awards.

The man also knows his shoes.

When Kalleen Malone (her husband Bob’s Steele Street Bank and Trust shared a $50,000 sponsorship with Land Title Guarantee Co.) stood next to him for a red carpet photo op, Jones took a minute to admire the rhinestone-studded Dolce & Gabbana high-heeled sandals she was wearing.

“He said he really liked them,” Kalleen marveled. “I’m totally flabbergasted … I mean, how many men would notice the shoes?” Read more…